The Legion of Doom
Hawk and Animal made their TV debuts on the July 15, 1990 episode of Wrestling Challenge. In the WWF the team would be known only as the "Legion of Doom". To their opponents and detractors (such as Bobby Heenan), they were referred to as Legion of Dummies. Hawk and Animal immediately entered into a feud with Demolition, which led into a televised six-man tag-team match where Hawk and Animal teamed up with Ultimate Warrior against all three members of Demolition. Ax was having health issues and an agreement was made to phase him out and eventually replace him with Crush. Ax was moved into a role as manager for the team with the hope of taking a front office position, which eventually fell through. The Legion of Doom / Demolition feud did not have the expected intensity because of the change and LOD soon set their sights on the tag team titles. At SummerSlam 1991, the Legion of Doom defeated The Nasty Boys to win the World Tag Team Championship. Hawk and Animal would eventually lose the titles to Money Inc. on February 7, 1992 after which they briefly left the promotion. LOD would return a short time later with original manager Paul Ellering. The team incorporated a ventriloquist dummy called "Rocco" (Originally introduced as "Freckles" in front of a live crowd at a WWF TV Taping, the segment bombed so bad that it never aired) which served as their “inspiration”, but this gimmick was short-lived. Hawk left the company in disgust with the Rocco gimmick immediately after SummerSlam 1992, while Animal stuck around, finishing the team's contractual obligations with former Demolition member Crush (now repackaged as a face) replacing Hawk on house shows, before an injury to his back forced him into a lengthy hiatus. Hawk and Animal made their surprise return on the February 24, 1997 edition of Monday Night Raw where they destroyed the Headbangers, despite both teams being counted out. The Legion of Doom would be heavily involved in the feud with the Hart Foundation siding with Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ken Shamrock and Goldust at In Your House: Canadian Stampede. The Legion of Doom also became 2-time WWF tag team champions on October 7, 1997 when they defeated The Godwinns. In November 1997, the Legion of Doom faced the newly formed New Age Outlaws (Road Dogg and Billy Gunn) and shockingly lost the titles to the upstart team. The Legion of Doom would challenge the Outlaws several times in the next couple of months but could not win the gold. On February 23, 1998, the Legion of Doom disappeared from WWF television after the two men brawled on Raw, seemingly spelling their demise. Hawk and Animal next appeared as Legion of Doom 2000, billed as an updated version of the Road Warriors “for the new millennium”, at WrestleMania XIV during a tag team Battle Royal. The duo sported a new look, including new shoulder pads and helmets (the helmets wouldn't last long, as Hawk got rid of his by throwing it to the crowd) and a new manager in Sunny. LOD 2000 won the battle royal and earned a shot at the tag team titles, but did not manage to win the gold. Sunny soon left the team and Droz, then known as Puke, started to accompany them to the ring. At the same time, Paul Ellering returned, but sided with the Disciples of Apocalypse (DOA), whom LOD were feuding with at the time. For the first time in the history of the Road Warriors they participated in a storyline where tension arose between the members, teasing a break up. In this storyline, Hawk was seen by his partner Animal as unfit to wrestle and Puke was tapped to take Hawk's place in the tag team as an official member. The angle played off Hawk’s real life alcohol and drug issues, going so far as to faking a suicide jump off the top of the TitanTron. After the angle bombed and both Hawk and Animal voiced their objections to it, the angle was dropped. The Legion of Doom made a very brief return, first on the March 22, 1999 Raw is War by attacking Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco in a backstage skit after the two impersonated LOD in a handicap match against Shane McMahon, on the March 15, 1999 Raw is War. Both LOD entered the pre-WrestleMania battle royal with the last two participants getting a tag team title shot later at WrestleMania XV but both came up short. They would make one final appearance on the March 29, 1999 Raw challenging Owen Hart and Jeff Jarrett for the tag team titles but failed to win them; they left the WWF afterwards. The Road Warriors' last TV appearance as a team occurred on the May 12, 2003 Raw episode in a tag team match against the WWE World Tag Team Champions, Rob Van Dam and Kane. The Road Warriors had hoped to get a full-time contract with WWE but nothing ever came of it. Hawk died five months later on October 19, 2003. Animal would go on to team with Heidenreich in 2005 in Hawk's honor, where they won the WWE Tag Team Championships. On April 2, 2011, The Road Warriors with Paul Ellering were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. Category:Tag Team